


This Town is a Song About You

by everything555everything, Flavortext, Fuzzyface, MamzelleCombeferre



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Asexual Character, Asexual Fjord, Critical Robin, F/M, Modern AU, angst is only alluded to, road trip fic, this is straight up fluff ya'll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-06-29 23:36:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15739605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everything555everything/pseuds/everything555everything, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flavortext/pseuds/Flavortext, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuzzyface/pseuds/Fuzzyface, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MamzelleCombeferre/pseuds/MamzelleCombeferre
Summary: Jester and Fjord go on a spontaneous road trip to the coast, and along the way figure out that complicated feelings might be simpler then they imagined.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is part of the Critical Role Round Robin Fic Challenge, where, between July 8th and August 18th 2018, writers started A new fic and then passed it around their group, each writer adding their contribution until the fic went full circle and returned to its original writer. That writer then had to revise and edit the fic into readable shape. This is one result! 
> 
> I'd love to publicly thank all my co-authors! I lucked out so much with this group of fabulously talented authors. They made this fic better than I ever expected it to be. <3 Thank you all so much!
> 
> (Title is from Dar William's song "The Ocean")

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by MamzelleCombeferre!

It starts with a persistent buzz in the small hours of the morning. His phone vibrates harshly against the set of plastic drawers he uses as a nightstand, so poorly made that the whole thing shakes slightly with the sound. With eyes still closed Fjord reaches out to grab it, grasping air twice before his hand finally meets its mark. He opens his eyes then immediately closes them to a squint. His room is so small that the light of the phone nearly illuminates the whole thing in a soft fluorescent glow. Even on the lowest setting the light emanating from the screen is near blinding in the early morning darkness.

Checking it over, it’s clear the alarm is still set. A glance at the digital clock to his left confirms that he still has at least five hours before he would normally be up. Then the phone buzzes again, and the source of his late-night interruption becomes immediately clear: a set of text messages from a very familiar number.

            _[1:30am Thurs 25_Jester Lavore] Fjord are you awake?_

_[1:35am Thurs 25_Jester Lavore] Fjooooord?!?!?1_

_[1:35am Thurs 25_Jester Lavore] *!_

_[1:37am Thurs 25_Jester Lavore] Okay fineeeeee you must be sleeping…_

_[1:50am Thurs 25_Jester Lavore] Fjoooord wanna go for a drive?_

He closes his eyes once more, debating the merits of ignoring the messages, then debating how likely that is to deter his best friend, before opening them once more and sighing. That sigh turns into a groan as he rolls onto his side, swiping right on the screen to open the thread.

_[1:58am Thurs 25_Fjord] It’s almost 2 in the morning Jester._

The text sends with a soft swoop noise. Almost instantly three dots appear at the bottom of the thread.

            _[1:59am Thurs 25_Jester Lavore] I’m coming to get you! Hold tight!_

She signs off the text with a little smile emote blowing a kiss and that’s that. Despite how tired and disoriented he still is, he smiles. It’s impossible not to when Jester is involved, though there are many who would probably disagree with him. (They would, of course, be wrong.) When it seems no more messages are coming, Fjord sits up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and resigns himself to a long morning ahead.

The fact that it takes almost no convincing on his part is not lost on him, but it’s too goddamn early to be examining feelings, as if Fjord enjoys doing that at the best of times. Besides, it’s a Saturday, so he doesn’t’ have work at the café, and while Fjord is stubborn, even he knows a lost cause when he sees it. Resistance is futile, and he’s never been able to resist Jester anything anyway.

So he stretches and almost literally crawls out of bed to shower. Before all this though, he swipes his phone open to send one more message.

            _[2:15am Thurs 25_Fjord] See you soon_

**--**

Careful not to wake Molly, it doesn’t take Fjord long to get ready. In 15 minutes he’s clean (having been only five hours out from his last shower), thrown all the essentials into an overnight bag (Vandrin taught him well the lesson of preparedness), started a pot of coffee (a large one he needs desperately), and gotten dressed (comfortable and functional clothes). Prepped for anything is always the way to go in his experience, though he honestly isn’t sure what he should be preparing for here. He thinks for a moment about texting Jester again to ask, but she’s probably driving already, and Fjord knows enough about car safety and Jester’s distractibility to label that a bad idea. He’s patient. He can wait.

The sun is nowhere close to rising yet as he stands outside under the pooling light of the street lamps. His breath hangs suspended in the air, unseasonably cool even for the northern climate of Rexxentrum. This early the only sounds are the soft chatter of his teeth and the whistling breeze that never stops blowing. The tusks, just finally beginning to pop over the top of his bottom lip, knock awkwardly against the top row of teeth. They’re sensitive as hell, and he winces slightly as the cool air makes them twinge.

Several times since he stepped outside he’s debated going back in to grab a heavier coat or at least a scarf. Unlike many of his friends, Fjord has always run slightly cool, though there are few he would admit that to these days. He’s a big guy, and with that comes a lot of assumptions. Comments about being cold-blooded, even when meant as a joke, carried unfortunate connotations in light of his half-orc lineage though. Better not to laugh at all than accidentally encourage that line of thinking.

So even though no one stands outside to witness it, he decides stubbornly to stick it out, settling instead for pulling the neckline of his Solstryce Academy sweatshirt over the bottom half of his face. His saving grace is the coffee he clutches in travel mugs, one for him and one for Jester.

Five minutes later, Jester’s car rolls up to the curb, a sports car like model that’s as blue as the girl as herself. Just barely braking, she rolls the passenger window down and greets him with an enthusiastic wave, and an equally enthusiastic, “Get in! You’re nearly as blue as me!”

Fjord winces at her volume, but the laugh that follows is fond. After throwing his bag into the backseat he settles into the passenger side, his shoulders already beginning to relax in the full-blasting heat. Jester’s car is tiny, but the seat rolls back far. It’s not enough space to really stretch out, but his knees aren’t pressed into the dash either.

“Brought you some coffee.” He says, passing one of the travel mugs over to her when he’s sure that she’s actually parked now. “Just like you like it.” Two parts milk to one part actual coffee.

Her smile grows even wider as she wraps both hands around the mug, taking a large sip even as steam still slips through the mouth of it. Jester has an uncanny ability to never burn her mouth, even on the most scalding of things. Maybe it’s just a tiefling thing, but Fjord has never been so lucky. Even now it burns a little as it goes down.

She takes a deep breath, letting her shoulders rise and then fall into a contented exhale. “Mmm, thank you Fjord.” The coffee warms them from the inside out, as the last of the tenseness begins to ease from his muscles and the worst of the chill is fought off.

Jester relegates the mug to one of the car’s many cup holders, while Fjord continues to hold his like a handwarmer. She pulls her car back onto the road, and within moments Fjord’s apartment complex begins to fade into the background. As she concentrates on the road, he takes the opportunity to get a better look at her. Her hair, bright blue and cut into a blunt bob, is a little mussed in the back around the base of her horns. While Fjord is wearing jeans and a sweater, Jester looks as though she hadn’t even bothered to change out of her pajamas (pink matching t-shirt and pants with unicorns on them). Sure enough, looking at her feet, she’s got ice blue fuzzy slippers on, the ones she bought as a treat to herself on her last birthday.

The radio fills the comfortable silence with the soft beats of top 40 pop songs, until Fjord realizes he doesn’t even know where they’re going. He’d assumed it would be something in the city, something distinctly Jester. A late night/early morning picnic, ghost watching at the cemetery, a chance to watch the sunrise at one of the lookout points near the academy campus. Smoothly swearing onto the highway now though, it doesn’t take long for Fjord to realize why this road looks familiar.

“Jester, this is going towards the coast.” Fjord says, anxiously glancing at the side mirror as he watches the green overhead signs pass quickly over them. “That’s an awfully long ways away.”

Half expecting her to laugh and exclaim that this was all an elaborate prank and that they were actually just going to go draw pictures with chalk on the sidewalks on campus, or something equally harmless and close to home. That no, they weren’t just taking a trip all the way to the godsdamn coast with no warning or planning.

Instead, her gaze, firmly situated on the road in front of her, falls just slightly, barely noticeable if Fjord wasn’t so attuned to her usual mannerisms. Her voice is subdued, tinged with sadness even, as she says, “I just needed to see the ocean again.”

Oh.

His own face softens now. Seeing Jester so down, even just slightly, feels innately wrong, but Fjord can’t fault her that one bit. The winters of Rexxentrum were brutal and long, nothing like the warmer climates of the coast where they had both grown up. Hells, neither of them had even seen snow before their first winter at the Academy. That shared memory of oceanside towns, soaked in sunlight and salt and fresh coastal air, was something that had bonded them together from their first meeting.

Jester didn’t go home much. Her mom was busy running her own business, some kind of lounge and bar deal that kept her up late into the nights and busy with prep during the days. On top of the busy schedule, an abusive ex of her mother had it out for Jester for “ruining their relationship.” Fjord was fuzzy on the details, and frankly wasn’t prepared to ask for any more than Jester had already told him. All that made visiting home more than once or twice a year difficult. She talked to her mom as much as she could though, both over the phone and through physical mail. He worried, but Jester didn’t seem concerned, and though she came across as naïve, she wasn’t stupid. Wiser than most, he reckoned.

Fjord, on the other hand, hadn’t been home at all in over a year, almost two now. He’d visited every break at first, as much as he could afford on financially and time wise, but then Vandren, his foster father turned adopted father disappeared, and his grades began to slip, and his life went to wreck. He’d made a series of mistakes, failing to attend his classes, isolating himself from his friends, and a regretful first sexual experience that, while consensual, had only confirmed something he’d already known about himself deep down, that those kinds of acts just weren’t for him. He was only just getting his life back together with the help of Jester and his roommate Molly.

Maybe Jester was right and it was time to face home again.

To break the tension he says, “Well I hope you brought an extra set of clothes then. Pretty sure fuzzy slippers won’t appreciate the water like you do.” His light tone is deliberate, though no less genuine for it. At fifteen-past three in the morning now, it’s still pitch dark outside, and a hand pressed against the window confirms just how icy it still is.

Her face brightens again, and Fjord feels a little kernel of relief pop in his chest. “Oh I did!” Without taking her eyes off the road she gestures towards the back with her thumb where a bright pink backpack sits amongst the backseat detritus of old water bottles, dirty laundry, and art supplies. It’s a testament to how tired he’d been before his coffee that he hadn’t noticed the blinding shock of neon before this.

Fjord settles back into his seat, glancing out the window where the city rushes by in a blur of light and shadow. A mix of nerves and contentment. The road stretches ahead of them, and off they go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (rebloggable tumblr post: http://mamzellecombeferre.tumblr.com/post/177186325237/this-town-is-a-song-about-you-chapter-1)


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by tumblr user Osroshallward!

Jester has to stop to get gas around 7, the sun slowly burning off the clouds in the sky. Fjord sits in the car, Jester’s music blaring, and remembers to text Mollymauk so there isn’t an all out manhunt when he finds him gone.

_[7:03am Thurs 25_Fjord] Hey Molly, Jester kidnapped me, we’re going to the coast. No idea when I’ll be back but I’ll let you know._

_[7:04am Thurs 25_Mollymauk] ayyy attaboy_

_[7:04am Thurs 25_Fjord] What’s that supposed to mean?_

_[7:04am Thurs 25_Mollymauk] ;)_

_[7:04am Thurs 25_Fjord] …Shut up Molly._

_[7:06am Thurs 25_Mollymauk] just saying she really likes you_

_[7:07am Thurs 25_Mollymauk] anyways i need my beauty sleep drive safe!_

Fjord smiles at the little Yawning emoji, then startles as Jester yanks the car door open and swings inside. “I got breakfast!” Jester presents him with a latte and some kind of cheese croissant. She has an iced drink with an absurd amount of whipped cream for herself, and a little yoghurt parfait. She put both in cup holders and pulls the car out of the station.

“Thanks, Jester. Do you have a specific destination in mind? Are we going to your mom’s, or Port Damali?” Fjord shifts uncomfortably at the thought of both.

Jester thankfully shakes her head. “There’s a lookout point south of Nicodranas. I haven’t been, but I saw it online. It’s supposed to be nice. You can get down to the water from it too.” Jester has her eyes fixed on the road, sipping through a straw at the cream on her drink.

Fjord settles back in his seat and started to eat. “Jester, I just want to make sure- you’re okay, right? What’s spurring this?” Fjord sets down his half-eaten pastry, lowering the volume on the music a bit. Jester glances over and shrugs.

“The weather report said it was going to snow next week.” Her knuckles tighten on the steering wheel. “And it’s been three years now, since we left.”

That hits Fjord like a brick. He does the mental math and yeah- nearly to the date, he and Jester took adjacent seats on a greyhound headed east from Port Damali. Beau had taken the third a few stops later, and four days after that the three spilled out into Rexxentrum. Jester and Beau rented an apartment together, and Fjord answered a roommate ad and found himself caught up in Molly’s…chaos. He’d managed to clean the apartment bit by bit over the past few years, and now there was a thin line of Molly’s side (Draped in tapestries and scattered incense and candles and silks), and Fjord’s side, clean and functional with the model ship Caleb and Nott had gotten him for his birthday on proud display across from his bed.

“Damn.” Fjord swirls his drink. “I’m sorry I forgot.”

Jester shrugs again. “It’s good, right? I love being with you guys, and it’s so good to be away from _him_. But I guess I just, miss the water. And the _smell_.” Jester frowns, and Fjord pats her arm gently.

“The ocean really does stick with you. This will be good for both of us.” Jester perks up and nods at that, turning onto a bigger highway and picking up speed a little.

They stop for lunch at a local pizza shop, and Jester finally pulls up a map on her phone.

“Okay, so it says it’s three days away, if we really drive _all day_ , but there’s this thrift store in Kamordah that I’ve been dying to see, so maybe we should make a day stop there?” She shows Fjord the little blue line tracing through the mountains to the coast.

“That sounds good to me- Did you leave Cali in charge at the bakery?” Fjord says after finishing his mouthful of bread and cheese.

“Mhmm! She can handle it.” Jester grins, snagging the last slice of pizza from under Fjord’s hand. Fjord yelps and tries to grab it back, but Jester has already bitten into it, cheeks scrunched up in laughter.

“You owe me.” Fjord huffs, sitting back in his chair. Jester just giggles around her mouthful of food.

Fjord takes over driving now that they have a plan, Jester shouting directions without much warning as her attention is placed on putting together a playlist for the drive.

“Jess, why don’t you scope out somewhere for dinner?” Fjord finally says, nerves frayed. He’d missed his fourth exit due to Jester only screeching out for him to turn when they were half past the lane change. Jester was a good driver when she was behind the wheel, but she is a horrible passenger. Jester nods and switches from the music app on her phone, tail flicking Fjord’s arm absently as she searches.

“Ohh, this place looks good. It’s mostly seafood but they have a salad bar and a little sweets shop!” Jester sticks her phone in front of him, showing a local restaurant. Fjord glances at it long enough to see that it's fairly cheap, and focuses back on the road.

“Looks good, can you find a hotel too? My ass hurts, and we’ve been driving all day.”

“Of course, wouldn’t want anything to happen to your ass.” Jester is too busy looking at her phone to see how Fjord darkens by about four shades. He worries his lip between his teeth (hard now that his tusks are mostly grown in- going on two years since their little friend group had staged an intervention and helped him break his worst habit) and doesn’t say anything. Jester adds a hotel to their now long list of stops on her map app, just after the restaurant, and by some miracle warns Fjord of the exit with enough time for him to actually take it.

The town they pull into is more like two blocks of shops and some houses scattered about. The hotel is the biggest building around, and it takes a good extra five minutes to find the dinner place because it’s tucked out of the way on a side street. Fjord pales a little as they walk in. It’s arranged almost entirely in two-person booths and tables, with low lighting and candles on the tables, the full aesthetic. Jester grabs onto his arm and grins, following their server and dragging him along with her.

The menu has flowers curling around the edges, and Fjord examines them as hard as he can, because if he looks up he’ll see Jester, in the teal blouse she’d changed into at their first stop, lit by candlelight, and he isn’t sure his heart can fully handle that with how little sleep he's running on.

“Do you want to split these noodles?” Jester leans across the table obliviously and points at the item on his menu, horn tapping his shoulder. Fjord read it quickly.

“Sound’s good, uh,” Fjord stalls out when Jester lifts her head, inches from his face now. She smiles softly for a second before pulling back.

“Alright then, we’ll have that and a salad and then they had this cake on the menu online that we _have_ to try.” Jester set her menu down and clapped her hands. Fjord set his paper down too and fiddled with his forks. Their food came and went in a comfortable silence, and the cake that they shared was _amazing_. Jester paid, arguing with Fjord that she’d dragged him out here, so it was the least she could do, and they returned to the car just as the sun was setting.

“We should probably have booked a hotel on the road.” Jester remarks as she slides into the driver’s seat.

Fjord wrinkles his brow. “I’m sure we’ll be okay.” Fjord flicks through Jester’s playlist on the short drive to the hotel, grinning at some of her song choices.

Jester pulls into the hotel parking lot, shutting off the music with a sigh. Fjord finds himself yawning.

“Okay, let’s get some _beds_!” Jester scoops her duffel bag over her shoulder, then without a second thought, takes Fjord’s too. She clicks the car lock and leads the way into the brightly lit lobby. Fjord gives her shoulder a pat and takes the lead then, he is a little less off-putting than her, and usually took point when it came to social situations for their group.

“Evenin’, Ma’am,” Fjord leans on the counter, more to give his stiff legs a rest than anything else. The human woman behind the counter smiles at him. “Can we get a double room, just for the night?” Fjord asks.

“Sure thing let me just pull up what we have…” The woman fiddles with her computer for a moment, while Jester sits their bags down next to Fjord and slips some of the mints into her pockets.

“Will that be two beds or a double?” The woman asks. At the same time Fjord says “Either is fine,” Jester blurts, “Two!”, and their eyes meet. Fjord feels himself go dark green, unable to look away from the frozen shock on Jester’s face. The woman behind the counter looks between the two of them awkwardly.

“Uh,” Fjord clears his throat, finally tearing away from Jester’s soft lilac eyes. “Two beds will be fine.” The woman nods and takes his card. Jester is staring with now squinted eyes at Fjord, too intent on whatever circles her mind is going through to protest him paying. Fjord takes their room keys (and perks up at the mention that the hotel had a pool), and with a stern “we can talk about this in a moment” glance, pulls up his bag and walks towards their room. He can hear Jester’s footsteps following after him, a bit delayed. Fjord manages to fight off looking back until they reached their room. The door swings open and Jester shoulders past him, dropping her bag on the first bed and turning with her hands on her hips, blocking him from the rest of the room.

“ _Fjord_.” She mispronounces his name into two syllables pointedly. Fjord shuffles in the entryway, the door closing with a thud behind him as he scrambles for words.

“I’m sorry, Jester, I just thought if they didn’t have two beds, I mean, you don’t mind being all touchy-feely, and you know I’m not gonna-“ Fjord flails his hands helplessly.

Jester shakes her head. “I’m not _mad_ , it was _sweet_ , and I know you aren’t trying to take me to bed.” Jester's smiling, though Fjord can tell she is still reeling a little. Fjord forces himself to relax, finding the light switch and turning it on. “Also, Fjord I didn’t mean it as in I wouldn’t want to share a bed with you, I just didn’t think you’d be _comfortable_.” Jester moves to let him into the room, seeing how he sags a little under the weight of his duffel bag. Fjord sets it down on the bed and sits before responding.

“I mean, we’re friends, right?” Fjord doesn’t say that the thought of falling asleep smelling Jester’s perfume or waking up to her hair a mess, curled together in the morning light, makes his heart flutter. Jester reads the sudden smile on his face as honesty and continues while she rummages in her bag.

“We’re _best_ friends, and that’s why I asked you to come with me!” She emerges from the mess with a pair of silk pajamas. “If Caleb and Beau are ‘empire kids,’ then we’re ‘coast kids!’ Jester lays the clothes out on the bed and keeps searching for something. Fjord can see from his spot on the other bed that her bag is a sea of colorful clothes, tossed haphazardly in. He unzips his bag (the contents jostled but folded) and pulls out a loose shirt and sweatpants to sleep in.

Jester straightens up victorious. “We’re going swimming first thing tomorrow. I gotta break in this new suit before we hit the ocean.” She waves a bikini (bright pink with donuts, Fjord really shouldn’t be surprised at this point), and then tosses it to the coffee table.

Fjord looks at his bag and furrows his brow. “I didn’t bring a suit.” He really hadn’t expected they would go to the ocean- or be gone for more than a day or two, really, so he’d just thrown the essentials together. He's pretty sure if he says that though, Jester'll tell him that of _course_ a swimsuit is essential, so he purses his lips and looks at her apologetically.

Jester sticks her tongue out at him. “Finnnne.” She grabs her suit and puts it back in her bag. “First thing tomorrow we get you a suit, _then_ we make sure the next hotel has a pool- and I’m paying, don’t think I didn’t see that mister.” She wags a finger at him. Fjord can’t help but shake his head and smile.

“Sounds like a plan. Now, I’m about to pass out, can you do your journaling with the light off?” Fjord nods to the notebook he sees poking out of Jester’s bag.

“Of course!” Jester pulls it and a huge (pink) pen case out of the bag, then grabs her change of clothes. “See you in a second.” She heads off to the bathroom.

Fjord takes the moment to change, putting his mostly clean clothes in a folded pile on one side of his bag, clean on the other, and sets the whole thing on the ground, crawling up the small bed and under the covers in the time it took for Jester to reemerge. She insists on taking a picture of him curled up under the covers with just his face showing (in his defense, the temperature started to drop as the sun set and the room isn’t fully heated), then gets into bed herself. She flicks her hand and uses Thaumaturgy to turn off the lights. Fjord watches in grayscale as she picks out pens and scribbles away in her book, tongue between her teeth. She mutters in infernal a few times, Fjord only catching bits like “Dear Traveler,” and his own name. He falls asleep before she finishes, songs and the image of Jester singing along, hair blowing in the wind as they drove down the highway in his mind.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by tumblr user fuzzy-face!

Jester wakes up to sunlight spilling in through the open curtains. She grumbles softly, considers getting up to close them, and rolls over instead. The other side of the room is peaceful and dark, and she almost slips back to sleep when her phone flashes and hums on the sheets beside her.

_[8:46am Fri 26_Beauregard] hey dude_  
_[8:46am Fri 26_Beauregard] well i was about to ask where the hell you are but I just found ur note so_  
_[8:48am Fri 26_Beauregard] i told you to stop leaving them in the fridge it’s weird_

_[8:50am Fri 26_Jester Lavore] It’s not weird!! You never look at them when I leave them on the table >:( _

_[8:51am Fri 26_Beauregard] oh my gods it’s too early to do this again_  
_[8:51am Fri 26_Beauregard] so…u and fjord huh?_

She rolls back over, glancing across the room at the silent mound of blankets on the other bed. Fjord’s still sound asleep, snoring just barely loud enough for her to hear. For some reason, it’s a relief. Being awake first or seeing that he’s still okay and breathing; she’s not sure which one. Annoying cleric instincts.

Her phone buzzes again in her hands, bringing her thoughts back.

              _[8:53am Fri 26_Beauregard] should i assume it’s a coincidence that you only invited him or_

_[8:53am Fri 26_Jester Lavore] ???_

_[8:54am Fri 26_Beauregard] not that i care or anything but this is clearly a thing right_  
_[8:54am Fri 26_Beauregard] like u and him_

Jester’s fingers fumble unexpectedly, phone dropping back onto her lap. She’s still half-asleep, she guesses. She hates how quickly her face warms up without her permission. It’s not fair how awkward and embarrassed she gets when she’s not awake enough to defend herself.

            _[8:56am Fri 26_Jester Lavore] No!!! It’s not like that Beau_  
_[8:56am Fri 26_Jester Lavore] Anyway my car can’t fit EVERYBODY_

_[8:57am Fri 26_Beauregard] yeah i bet u two want plenty of room in it_

_[8:58am Fri 26_Jester Lavore] Just like you and Yasha did when she invited you on that super secret trip to her cabin??_

_[8:58am Fri 26_Beauregard] okay shut up point taken_

Jester grins, placing her phone on the nightstand and sitting up with a stretch. The hotel bed is leagues softer than the mattress she sleeps on back at her apartment, and for a moment she lets herself savor the feeling of not having to realign her back before wiggling out from under the blankets and swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

Her face falls for a brief moment, looking at Fjord’s sleeping form. She wishes Beau hadn’t brought up… _that_ , anyway. Everyone else thinks so, she knows that. But it’s not like that. She’s like, almost positive. Almost. And more importantly, she knows Fjord doesn’t feel that way about her.

Why start something that’s just going to hurt and then end? Jester’s not an idiot.

She is very tired of thinking about this, though, so she hops down from her bed and gives the other one a rough shake. Fjord jerks awake with a soft snort. His hair is sticking up all over the place, one small tusk poking out from under his bottom lip. The sight makes her giggle.

“Wha’ time izit?” he mumbles, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and blinking at the sunlight.

“Umm, almost nine, I think,” she replies, crossing back to her side of the room to sift through her bag for today’s clothes. It’s not warm enough yet for a dress, she notes with disappointment, so she settles reluctantly on a pair of jeans and some grungy t-shirt she stole from Molly forever ago.

Fjord rolls out of bed finally, stretching and groaning. He’s always been a heavy sleeper and a slower waker. She hears Molly bitch all the time about how he sleeps through his alarm for ten minutes every morning. It’s kind of a little bit adorable, though, she thinks.

“Mind if I take the shower first?” He asks, dejectedly inspecting the state of his hair in the mirror.

“Nope, go ahead,” she says. She waits until she hears the soft hiss of water from the bathroom before stripping out of her pajamas and tugging on her new clothes. She couldn’t care less about changing in front of other people – gods knows she and Beau have seen each other naked more times than she can count – but Fjord is weird about that kind of thing and she’s not in the mood to tease him this time.

The sound of running water doesn’t stop, so she drops back onto her mattress and checks her phone again.

   _[9:02am Fri 26_Beauregard] so where are u guys even going?_  
_[9:02am Fri 26_Beauregard] your note says the coast but like for real where_

_[9:06am Fri 26_Jester Lavore] The coast, obviously!!_

_[9:06am Fri 26_Beauregard] yeah okay sure_  
_[9:08am Fri 26_Beauregard] wait shit ur actually being serious_  
_[9:08am Fri 26_Beauregard] jes that’s like 2,000 miles away_

_[9:09am Fri 26_Jester Lavore] So??? I have driven there before like a hundred times_  
_[9:09am Fri 26_Jester Lavore] Are you worried about me Beauuuuu_

_[9:11am Fri 26_Beauregard] fuck no_  
_[9:11am Fri 26_Beauregard] i’m worried that ur gonna disappear and leave me to pay rent_  
_[9:12am Fri 26_Beauregard] anyway text me when u get there or whatever_

_[9:12am Fri 26_Jester Lavore] <3_

The shower shuts off. A moment later, Fjord emerges in a whirl of steam, a towel around his waist and hair dripping.

“Hey,” she calls, dragging it out several syllables.

“Hey yourself,” he says, pulling his bag out from under the bed. “Um,” he pauses for a moment, clothes in hand, “do you mind if- “

Jester giggles, hopping down off the bed. “Yes, yes, don’t worry,” she says. I’m going to go put my jewelry back on, okay?”

She drops the tiny pile of chains and rings onto the bathroom counter. The mirror’s still clouded with steam, and she swipes a spot clean in the shape of a messy heart. A moment later, a smaller heart appears next to hers. She rolls her eyes and grins.

“Next time I’m drawing a dick,” she whispers to the space beside her.

She splashes cold water against her cheeks, scrubbing away the last stickiness of sleep. She reaches for one of the neatly-stacked washcloths and pauses.

“Did you see the little soaps and stuff in here?”

“Hmm?” Comes the still groggy reply. “If you’re askin’ me if I used soap, the answer is yes.”

She rolls her eyes, clearing the tiny plate with a sweep of her hand. “I’m taking them,” she announces, dumping the pretty-colored bottles into her jeans pockets.

“You’ve been to a hotel before, yeah?” Fjord appears in the doorway, clean t-shirt on and wet hair still plastered to his forehead. The little cowlick of white stands out especially against the dark of the water.

“Obviously,” she says, finally getting to putting on her horn jewelry. “Just, you know, not in a long time. Not since,” she pauses for a moment, thinking, “since me and Beau went to that convention in Trostenwald.” Almost two years ago; the realization nearly makes her forget what she’s doing. Gods, does she really just never get out of Rexxentrum?

“Well,” Fjord says with a yawn, “still more recently ‘n I have.” He jerks his thumb to the door. “S’all right if I head down to breakfast awhile?”

“Yep, go ahead,” she says, a little too cheerfully. He sends her a strange look before leaving. She waits until the door clicks shut behind him before slumping forward against the sink. “Get it together,” she growls, slapping her cheeks lightly, “today is going to be a _good_ day.” It doesn’t do much except make them flush purple a moment. Good enough for now.

Breakfast is better than it has any right to be. “I cannot believe this hotel has a pastry bar _and_ a pancake bar!” Jester says as she drops down into a seat at their small table, plate stacked with anything that looked glazed and full of fruit. Fjord’s nursing a coffee in a paper cup and picking at a muffin. She sees a few people drift by in the background, but nobody bothers the two of them. It’s like they’re in their own little bubble. Her tail flips happily at the thought.

“Want me to drive today?” Fjord asks, stirring his drink aimlessly.

“Oh, it’s fine,” Jester says, “you drove most of last night, so – “

“It’s not a problem,” Fjord insists. “To be honest I just thought it might help wake me up a little.”

“Oh,” Jester says. “Well, then okay, you are officially today’s driver.” Under the table, her tail continues to twitch. She shoves a cherry Danish into her mouth, pulling up their map on her phone.

“We can probably make it almost to Zadash by the end of the day,” she says between mouthfuls, “but I still want to stop to get you a swimsuit somewhere. Oh, also, we should probably not get a hotel in the city, because they’re way nice but they are _so_ expensive- “

“Whatever you wanna do s’alright with me, Jester,” he says. She pauses, staring at him for a moment for any evidence of insincerity. She’s been trying to get better at that lately, noticing when someone’s agreeing with her just because they want her to stop talking. Fjord’s leaning back in his chair, a relaxed look on his face.

She smiles. “Okay, well, then hurry up so we can be on the road before everyone else.” She folds her plate, tucks the remaining pastries into her backpack, and springs from her chair.

Several hours later Jester’s hanging her head out the window, eyes half-closed as she lets the wind whip her hair back. They’re doing sixty-five on the highway to Zadash and she relishes the cold, clean feeling of the air across her face. In the backseat, the bag from their latest shopping trip sits: a pair of dark blue swim trunks for Fjord, and a bag of jellybeans she grabbed at the last second for road snacks.

“I can already smell the ocean, I think!” She shouts over the rush. Fjord glances over at her, looking dubiously down at the phone’s GPS.

“Think we’re still too far away for that,” he says simply. She rolls her eyes.

“Well, it is definitely getting a little warmer now,” she insists, sticking a hand out into the wind for a moment. It _does_ feel warmer, at least compared to the frigid wintery air back in Rexxentrum.

Fjord chuckles slightly. “We’re barely a third of the way there. Won’t be much warmer ‘til we’re through the mountains.”

“Well _you’re_ not being very fun today,” she huffs, pulling herself back into the car. Fjord glances at her, somewhat startled, but she refuses to meet his gaze. “You know, you did not _have_ to come if you didn’t want to.” Her tail is twitching against her legs and she hates how restless it makes her feel.

“I – of course I wanted to come, Jester,” Fjord says. She thinks she sees his hand move hesitantly in her direction before he thinks better of it. “I could’a just said no, right?”

“I _know_. But you-“ she hesitates, biting her lip. Her tail thumps harder against the floormat. “You don’t seem like you’re excited,” she blurts out finally. She squeezes her eyes shut, turning away. If Fjord only came because he felt bad for her, she would rather not even find out.

He’s quiet for a moment. She cracks an eye open, looking reluctantly back at him out of the corner of her sight. He’s staring straight ahead at the road, expression unreadable. One hand is tugging absently at the corner of his lip. She looks back down at her lap, frowning.

“I’m sorry, Jes,” he says, at the same moment that she says, “I am a major ass.”

They both freeze, words stumbling to a halt. She glances up at Fjord’s flustered expression and her shoulders finally uncurl, shaking with laughter. Fjord sighs audibly in relief and it only makes her laugh harder, somehow.

“I _am_ sorry, Jester,” he says finally, turning his attention back to the road. “I do wanna be here with you. I’m just…not used to doin’ things like this. Not makin’ plans first, I mean.”

“I know,” she says, jabbing him lightly in the shoulder. “But it’s fun, right? Not knowing where we’re going. We can do whatever we want, and nobody can stop us.” She stares back out at the road whipping past them. “I feel like I waited forever to be able to just, _go_ , you know?”

“I think so, yeah,” Fjord says, and smiles faintly. “You know what, how about you teach me how to do that more often?”

“Oh, yes!” She grins fully, leaning back into the buff of the wind. “We would make such good adventurers,” she sighs. “It’s not fair that nobody does that anymore.”

Fjord grimaces. “Not sure I miss not havin’ to fight a troll just to get to the store.”

“Boo don’t be so boring,” Jester says, stealing her phone back and slouching back in the seat. “Also, your first lesson starts now, because there’s a hotel up ahead that has a huge pool, but you need to turn-” she glances up, “-two seconds ago.”

“Godsdammit Jester _come on_ – “

Jester lounges back on the mattress, gleefully messing up the neatly-pressed sheets. Her hair is still more than a little damp from swimming, and again from scrubbing the chlorine from her hair, but she doesn’t really mind. The sound of the shower running filters through the wall as Fjord takes his turn. And takes way too long, as usual. She rolls her eyes, turning over onto her stomach and absently checking her phone.

She frowns in surprise at the unexpected glut of messages.

            _[4:32pm Fri 26_Nott] jester where are you????_  
_[4:47pm Fri 26_Nott] beau says you and fjord ran away and then she told me to stop bothering her and she won’t answer her phone are you okay?????_  
_[5:26pm Fri 26_Nott] if you don’t respond by midnight should i call the police????_

_[7:02pm Fri 26_Jester Lavore] Nott relax!! I’m fine_  
_[7:02pm Fri 26_Jeser Lavore] Fjord and I are going to the coast to visit_

_[7:04pm Fri 26_Nott] are you sure?? he’s not making you say that is he_

_[7:05pm Fri 26_Jester Lavore] I’ll pick you up some beach glass if I find any, okay?_

_[7:05pm Fri 26_Nott] my suspicion cannot be bribed away!!!_

She rolls her eyes, tucking her phone away as the bathroom door swings open. Fjord’s in the same sleep outfit as last night, toothbrush between his lips as he scrubs at his hair with a towel.

“Finally,” she says, rolling over and sitting up. “Want to watch a movie, or something? I’m pretty sure they have stuff you can rent that isn’t porn, probably.”

He frowns briefly. “Depends how much it costs.”

“I _told you_ , I’m paying today, okay? It is seriously not a big deal.” She fishes the tv remote from the nightstand, pats the mattress beside her. “My bed has the better view, technically, if you want to share.”

“Hm? Oh, uh, it’s no problem,” Fjord says, “I can see from here fine.”

“Pfft, suit yourself,” she says, biting back the disappointment from her voice. She’s just a little touch-starved is all, anyway. She and Beau fell asleep on the couch together all the time watching shitty tv, and maybe she just got a little too used to it.

The movie’s predictably terrible and she drifts off by accident somewhere in the middle. When she wakes up an hour later, the two main characters are finally making out and Fjord is snoring loudly on the other bed. Someone has pulled the blankets up around her as she slept.

“Would be very helpful if you would turn the tv off too,” she mumbles, and hears a soft chuckle before the room drifts into silence again.

\--**--

“I’m driving today, okay?” She announces loudly as they step out into the pleasant early sunlight. It’s still cold enough to be uncomfortable, but the small shred of warmth is enough to make her bounce slightly as they make their way to her car.

“S’fine with me,” Fjord mumbles, more into his cup of coffee than to her.

She frowns, turning to examine him as she tucks their bags back into her trunk. Faint dark green bags are just visible under his eyes. “Are you okay?” She asks.

“Hmm? Yeah, I’m fine,” he says. He blinks a few times before seeming to actually register the question.

It only takes them about twenty minutes on the road, though, before he’s snoring softly in the passenger seat, head lolling and bouncing with every bump in the road. It absolutely definitely cannot be comfortable, but he’s out like someone put a sleep spell on him.

Still though, it only takes a few well-aimed jabs with her elbow before he jolts awake with a groan of confusion and a splatter of coffee down the front of his shirt.

“Shit,” she says, “I didn’t mean to do that part.” She fumbles in the center console for the napkins she’s pretty sure are in there while Fjord blinks himself awake.

“S’alright,” he mumbles, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “Didn’t mean to fall asleep. I had some, uh, weird fuckin’ dreams last night and I don’t think I slept very well.”

“Weird dreams,” she echoes, hoping the prompting in her voice is evident. But he doesn’t reply, just fixes the lid back on his coffee cup with determined focus. “Well, it’s okay,” she says finally. “Just as long as you’re not going to sleep through the whole day.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” he chuckles, stretching out with a yawn.

An hour later he’s fast asleep again, face pressed against the window in a way that would be a very good picture if she could reach her phone. She doesn’t bother trying to wake him up this time, just tries to make herself appreciate the peace and silence as they speed out of the lights of the city and out toward the distant shapes of the mountains. Very peaceful, very silent. Besides, today is their especially long driving day. A few hours of sleep won’t hurt. Her tail flips against the floor behind her.

The buildings and homes around them thin out into fields and thicken again into woods. It’s familiar terrain, the same she’s grown used to on her yearly-or-so visits, and it sends a shiver of anticipation up her spine. They’re not _close_ , not technically, but they’re not far away either.

A half-hearted cloud cover drifts overhead, offering small pockets of shade as the sun rises higher and higher. She turns the car out onto the woodsy back roads, the shortcuts she knows by heart now. They’re practically alone out here now. It’s not a bad thing, she assures herself as they wind their way through the pines. Maybe it’s kind of nice actually.

Until her car slides to a halt into the gravel on the side of the road.

\--**--

“I’m sorry,” she says finally, chin pressed to her knees as she perches on the hood of the car. Beside her, Fjord paces a few feet away and back again, phone held like a beacon, as if that’ll make them suddenly find a signal out here. The road around them is an empty black stretch.

“Don’t be,” he says, finally and reluctantly jamming his phone back in his pocket. “Not your fault.”

“It _is_ though,” she growls, burying her face in her hands. “I knew my stupid fuel light doesn’t work and I didn’t look at the gauge even once and I’m so _dumb_.”

“Hang on now, don’t say that.” He pads back over to her, leans against the hood in a way that’s probably supposed to be comforting, but mostly just looks awkward. “Look, so we’re stuck here for a couple hours ‘til someone drives by. S’not the end of the world.”

“It still _sucks_ though,” she groans miserably. She sniffs, lifting her head dejectedly. “This was supposed to be a fun road trip. Now we are stuck and it’s cold and this is _bullshit_.”

Fjord’s quiet for a moment. She hears the hood ‘ _pop_!’ gently beneath them as he jumps up next to her, setting in with his feet on the bumper and his knees tucked up nearly to his chin. She almost smiles and forces herself not to. She’s not quite done feeling sorry for herself yet.

“You know,” he says finally, clearing his throat before continuing more confidently, “one time our boat ran out of fuel, stranded my dad- Vandren -and I in the middle of the ocean. Way out there, I mean. Stranded us a good five, six hours until some fishermen found us. Real fuckin’ mess.”

“Are you just making that up to make me feel better?” She mutters sullenly, staring down at her muddied shoes.

“Hells no, I had nightmares about it for years.” He leans back against the hood, head tilted up toward the sky. “Point being, could be a lot worse. Least you’re not the dumb kid who brought the boat wax instead of the extra can of fuel.”

She snorts softly. “I wish we had been friends when we were kids,” she says, a bittersweet taste rising up in her throat. It’s better than the sting of holding back tears, but only just. “We could have gone to the boardwalk together. My mom was always too busy to take me, usually.”

“There weren’t really any boardwalks in my neck of the woods,” Fjord says, scratching thoughtfully at the faint hint of stubble on his chin. “Mostly just docks. Fishing boats and the like.”

The boardwalk was great,” she sighed, closing her eyes for a moment and trying to bring back the overpowering smell of sugar and salt and steam. She thinks it works, for just a second. “I got banned from like, so many of the games. Well, only once the Traveler started helping me win them, technically.”

Fjord chuckles. “Think they’d remember you after all these years?”

“Pfft, probably not,” she says. She sits up finally, bumping Fjord lightly with her shoulder. “I didn’t have a handsome gentleman companion with me back then, so _definitely_ not.”

“Gods,” he says softly, trying to give her his usual disapproving look, but blushing slightly all the same. She feels okay enough to laugh openly at that, leaning against his side with a small noise of exhaustion.

She sits back up immediately, alarmed. “Oh,” she says, because Fjord is shivering already, and she didn’t even notice. Some cleric she is. “Um, I’m pretty sure I have some blankets in the car.”

“Much appreciated,” he says, rubbing his hand up and down one arm while he awkwardly scoots off the hood to check in the back.

 


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by tumblr user criticaldemiplane!

In Jester’s cramped trunk there is exactly one blanket, faded baby blue fleece with small seagulls frozen in flight. Fjord scrunches up his nose at it, if only for the seagulls. Too many stolen chips in _that_ history. He comes around the back of the car and upon seeing their one comfort, Jester shrinks into herself even further. Fjord can’t deny that he’s shivering, even down this far south from Rexxentrum the breeze doesn’t treat him nicely. Hoping to cheer Jester up, he wraps the soft blanket around himself like a cape. It barely falls to his lower back, but it gets his friend to share a small smile.

No one passes on the small road. Eventually the sun begins to wear down in the sky, and they take further shelter by piling into the cramped backseat of the car. Fjord takes up watch from the window next to the road, while Jester sighs next to him and toys with her phone.

“I just really don’t think we should ask anyone to come all the way down here,” says Jester, anxiously twirling her hair. Fjord lays a steadying hand on her shoulder.

“A little longer, Jes, then we can call.” He says this with more confidence than he feels. Eventually Jester steals most of the fleece and gets as comfortable as she can sitting upright. Fjord crosses his arms and settles in, watching the tall grass sway on the other side of the road. The afternoon heatwave permeates through the car and with no distractions, Fjord finds his eyes drooping, his head nodding. He registers Jester’s face smooshing into his shoulder, and the cool window glass against his own cheek, and lets the drowsiness submerge him.

**--**

Fjord wakes up slowly, sticky eyes and a sticky line of drool down his chin. He’s uncomfortably sweaty and heavy from the unplanned nap. His head is tossed back in the junction between window and headrest, and as he moves his neck muscles cramp up in pain.

He winces and tries to move his arms, but something’s pinning them down. A spike of panic rushes through him as he also registers weight on him, his sleep-mind conjuring up sour memories and regret. Cautiously, blearily he looks down to see Jester’s form, fallen from his shoulder. _Oh_.

She’s managed to twist so that her face is upwards, head pressed between Fjord’s arms and his lap. The blanket has mostly fallen from her upper torso but is impressively cocooned around her waist and thighs.

Fjord just stares for a long moment at the sleeping tiefling. It’s not physically uncomfortable, if anything the weight is kind of…nice. Jester looks peaceful and safe, almost, with the measure of trust this position brings. Fjord feels something strange and light fill up his chest, something good. He instinctively juts out his tusks a fraction more, hunching over to put his face above Jester’s. He feels very strong and sure, arms solid, ready for some unknown threat. He wants to protect her. Keep her safe and still like this until she wakes up. Make sure she’s rested, pull up the blanket, find food and deal with the lodging and…and…

Suddenly a loud blaring of a truck horn sounds out from behind the car. Fjord doesn’t even flinch, but Jester jolts awake, almost colliding their faces as she sits up suddenly.

“Hey, anyone there?” A rough female voice calls from outside. “You guys need help?

Jester blinks rapidly in confusion. Fjord, still ballooned with the same light emotion, gently maneuvers her back upright to the seat next to him. Jester clutches the blanket to herself.

“Is our ride here?” She asks, already a little grumpy-sounding from the abrupt wake-up.

Fjord laughs. “Think so. I’ll go check ‘em out.”

He unlocks and opens the car door easily, relishing in the cooler air. It looks to be around late afternoon, but not quite evening. They must have been asleep for an hour or two.

A large and dirtied semi-trailer truck with _SHEPARD INDUSTRIES_ printed on the cab is parked behind them, still rumbling softly. Fjord waves to the person half-leaning out of the driver’s window and they hop out. Walking up to him is a weather-beaten dwarven woman with a five o’clock shadow, furiously chewing on a large wad of gum.

“Ya’ll need help?” She asks again, peering around Fjord’s jeans to Jester’s car.

“Ran out of gas,” Fjord explains. “Tank light was out. You wouldn’t happen to have a spare gallon?

“I’ll do you one better,” says the woman. “Name’s Keg. I can tow you if you want, it’s only a couple miles to the next station.”

“Oh,” exclaims Fjord, surprised by the offer. “I uh, don’t mean to be ungrateful, but I’m not sure my companion and I have the, the proper compensation for a tow.”

At that moment Jester leans halfway out of the car’s window, blue hands clutching the darker blue of the car’s paint. “Hey! Are we getting back on the road or not!”

Keg responds quickly before Fjord can think of what to say. “I won’t make you pay more than I would for fuel. You’re gonna have to wait a while before anyone else would come by and I’m not having that shit on my conscience. Besides, ain’t that what people do these days? Look out for each other?”

Fjord senses the sincerity and touch of insecurity behind those words and heavily relates. There sure were times where he was pushing to be a better person, wasn’t he? And now he’s got Jester and Beau, and all the rest of them. Even Molly’s chaos, as comforting and confusing as it is.

“Think that’s as much as we all can do. Thank you, this is very generous.”

Behind them Jester honks the horn, having leaned into the front seat. Keg laughs and throws up her hands.

“Why the hell not? It’s my last run with these bastards anyway.” In Keg’s eyes is the same passionate, heated bitterness Fjord’s seen on the likes of Beau and Caleb. He decides to not press the issue and instead sends a small prayer of thanks up to whatever higher force will accept it.

The truck is missing any cargo, instead just ending at the driver’s cab and a long platform where any shipments would usually sit. Keg drives the truck around to position the platform in front of Jester’s car and lowers a small ramp. Fjord leans into the car and puts the engine in gear, hoping for the best. He throws himself against the back of the car, pushing with little success. Jester rolls up her non-existent sleeves and braces her hands against the trunk, and it all lurches forward a couple feet, sliding into a slow-rolling motion. Fjord opts to wipe his brow and stand back as Jester and Keg push until the bright little sports car is safely on the truck’s platform. Fjord helps with the restraints—with this, at least, he can transfer some knowledge over from his sailing days – and they pile into the front of the truck. It’s a little awkward as the space is cramped with three people, and Jester ends up cross-legged on the sleeper cab’s bench.

Fjord is grateful as Jester easily settles into her extroverted self, and for her part Keg seems genuinely happy to chatter along with the tiefling about everything and nothing. It’s only a little while until they happen upon a tiny town with one outdated gas station.

“Buck stops here,” announces Keg. “You all should be fine for the night. I have to keep going and drop this thing off.”

As they’re filling up on gas, Fjord digs into his wallet and presses a twenty and a ten in Keg’s hands. It’s about all he’s got left on him in cash. She pockets the money with a smile and nods to where Jester is raiding the 24/7 convenience store. “What’s a couple of college kids doing down here, anyway?”

Fjord stares through the dirty glass to where Jester is making her purchase. Whatever it is, it seems to be brightly colored. His voice is softer than he intends as he says, “She wanted to see the ocean again.”

“Sounds nice,” replies Keg. “Maybe I’ll do that once I’m free.”

The doors beside them open with a bell’s ring and Jester spills out, arms full with candy and gum. The latter of which she presses package upon package to Keg, “Because I know you are trying to quit the smokes and really there are better flavors out there than just mint!” Jester breezes past them to finish up with the gas tank and deposit the rest of her things inside of the car.

Keg winks at him. “Take care of your girlfriend. She’s a cute one.” And she walks away, climbing back into her truck and honking again as she pulls out of the station.

Fjord is left blushing by the roadside. He registers Jester waving goodbye and does so as well after a beat.

They pile back into the front seat like old times. Finally fueled to perfection, the car carries them well over the town’s main street, straight into a parking place for the motel.

The actual checking-in is more awkward. Fjord is halfway afraid that they’re going to get scammed, his heart jackrabbiting through his shirt. For once his easy confidence, a natural skill that makes the rest of the group force him to order the pizza, has vanished into some unknown plane of exhaustion.

They hardly say a word throughout the whole process, Jester taking the single bed and Fjord climbing onto the creaky pull-out. The entire room has been decorated twenty years ago, but it’s functional for the night. He’s glad the bed issue has been forgotten, and when the lights are blinked out he pretends to sleep. Staring at the paisley wall, Fjord can hear the slow scratch of pencil on paper as Jester journals to the Traveler. Is she writing about him? He’s seen his name in there before.

_What would she write about me?_ Fjord allows himself to dwell on the question. Because of the midday nap he’s more keyed up than normal at this hour and can’t seem to push his thoughts away.

He doesn’t think Jester would write anything bad, and he’d never look without permission. But he hopes she’s writing good things. He hopes he’s being good to her.

Fjord hugs the pale pillow between his arms and lets himself imagine hugging Jester and drops off to sleep.

**--**

Both of them are much brighter-eyed in the morning. Fjord shakes off his strangely vivid dream ( _himself in a green cloak, picking himself out of an old sailor’s line-up_ ) by scarfing down the pastries Jester had purchased the day before. They’re all pre-packaged and sickeningly sweet, but they do the job of clearing his head.

“We will definitely make it to the ocean today!” Cheers Jester. In celebration she’s wearing her favorite outfit, a mustard yellow off-the-shoulder blouse and high-waisted white shorts. It looks damn good on her and Fjord suddenly needs to express this.

From the driver’s seat he hands her a pair of sunglasses. “You look great. D’you have your swimsuit on under that?”

Jester pauses in her answer and for a nauseous moment Fjord thinks he’s made things awkward. But he voice is sincerely happy as she crows, “Of course! You better have on yours!”

Fjord assures her he does, and they pull out of the small town. Nicodranas is much closer than he thought it was, being disoriented with the backroads and the sudden stop. They’re able to pull onto the highway and Jester sticks her hands out the window, feeling the rushing air.

“I can smell the boardwalk!” She shouts, completely giddy. Jester’s energy is absolutely infectious, and Fjord feels the adrenaline as he taps out a beat on the wheel to the tune of the car’s radio.

In an hour the green exit sign that reads _Nicodranas_ appears. Jester alerts him and with only a couple car horns Fjord is able to jerk the car over two lanes towards their city.

It’s like a switch flips. The air becomes almost tangy with anticipation, and Jester quiets down, hands fiddling with the car blanket. The silence is comfortable, though, and Fjord spends it thinking of how glad he is that he answered that stupid text. Finally, the cold air of Rexxentrum is miles and miles from them. True, the capital city will always mean a lot to Fjord. It’s where he’s grown up, studied, made true friends. A couple years ago, it was their escape.

But this is their _home_. Fjord knows Jester can feel it too, the awesome pull of the ocean. They coast onto smaller and smaller roads until they’re in the city proper and cresting a hill suddenly the great expanse of the sea is below them.

At first Fjord thinks Jester is laughing at the sight of the beaches. When he glances to her though, fluid tears are running down her cheek and dripping off her nose.

He nearly stops in the middle of the damn intersection. As it is, though, he manages to keep himself under control until he’s found a small gravel parking lot next to one of many tourist shops.

Fjord parks and clips off his seatbelt hastily and realizes he doesn’t know what to do. Beau would know how to comfort Jester, or Nott or even Molly in his aggressively hospitable style.

But Fjord’s just Fjord. And he takes a deep breath and starts, “Jester?”

“I’m sorry,” she immediately chokes out. Her hands have come up to cover her face, like she’s ashamed. Fjord reaches over and gently pulls her wrists down.

“Hey now, none of that,” he whispers. “What’s wrong, Jes?”

She sniffs loudly. “I don’t even know, Fjord, I’m sorry. I know I dragged you all the way here, but I didn’t think of what it would be like to _be_ here again. Not really.” Instead of withdrawing her hands she turns them to grasp Fjord’s. Biting her lip, Jester waits a second and then sways into the area above the gearshift.

Fjord doesn’t even hesitate and wraps his arms around her shaking shoulders. She curls up into his broad chest and they stay like that.

The same light feeling fills Fjord, a mixture of so many things. He keeps his grip on her strong and his words soft and lets her sob without judgement. He thinks his breath might get a little shaky, too.

“Shh Jes. It’s okay.” He ducks down a little to press into her hair. “I’m here, I’m not goin’ anywhere. Together, right?”

“Yes,” he thinks he hears Jester whisper. She moves to look up at him and Fjord kisses her forehead lightly before he can think too much into it. Jester’s eyes flutter closed for a second before she leans back into her seat. She wipes at her eyes. “Thank you, Fjord…I don’t know what came over me.”

Fjord smiles at her. “Hey, save the salt for the ocean, huh?” They’re still holding hands.

“Yes,” she says again, voice stronger. Jester looks at him with a clear gaze and _smiles_ , so brightly. Fjord had never noticed before how when she smiles her whole face changes, wrinkles appearing around her eyes and dimples in her cheeks, and right there and then his heart knows he’s a goner.

She says, “Let’s go see the ocean.”

 


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by tumblr user MamzelleCombeferre

Parking is easy on arrival. The small lot is near empty, only one car and a couple of bikes taking up a small corner of the salt eroded concrete. The beach is somewhat secluded, off the beaten path of Nicodrana’s more touristy spots, the one’s Jester grew up close to. The only people here now are the most dedicated beach goers, surfers and early morning swimmers.

It’s late enough though, that the sun is fully in the sky, its rays cutting through the cool coastal breeze like a hot scoop in a tub of ice cream. From the car Jester can just see the glittering line where the water meets the shore, a shimmering band of light. The view is interrupted by an elderly man in a wet suit and diving gear running into the waves, brandishing a harpoon as he dives in. Jester is both delighted and horrified, the mixture of both manifesting in a bought of breathless giggles. She looks over as she hears Fjord do the same, shoulders bouncing in a way that rocks the whole car a little.

The water is so blue it reminds her of the little sapphire earrings her mother kept in the jewelry box on the nightstand, the same color as the waves, whose shades rolled and changed in the light. The thought makes her throat close a little with emotion, but she shakes it off with a light swallow. She’s _so done_ with tears already today. No more. Today is a day for happy thoughts, and swimming, and enjoying the sun for the first time in what feels like forever, maybe even ice cream later.

Fjord’s words, slightly muffled, shake her out of the last of her reverie. “You comin’?” Looking over she finds her friend has already stepped outside, his door still open, but the car no longer running.

“No Fjord,” She says, elongating each syllable in her best approximation of Fjord’s drawling accent. It’s pretty terrible all things considered, but she rolls with it anyway. “I brought us all the way here to just sit in the car.” She can’t even make it to the end of her sentence before a smile starts to creep into her words, making the already obvious joke even clearer.

Fjord chuckles, playing along. In an even heavier version of his accent than usual, he says, “Well gosh, I should hope not,” ducking his head back in the car so that she can see him smiling, the really nice one that shows a little bit of his teeth even.

Her heart stutters a little at the sight, but she pushes through it. In her own accent again, finger up to her mouth like she’s thinking really hard about this, she shrugs and says, “Wellll when you put it like that, okay!” The excitement that had started building that morning explodes within her now, a pleasant warming buzz from the center of her chest out to the bottoms of her feet and the tips of her fingers.

She’s basically vibrating as she unbuckles from the seat, stretching as she attempts to close the window at the same time as she’s grabbing around the back seat for her bag. Fjord, noticing her struggle, opens the back door and grabs the neon pink bag, throwing it over his shoulder. The window now shut, she throws the door open and steps out, entirely unprepared for how intense the feeling of being home is as the slightly fishy, salty ocean smell really washes over her for the first time that day and for a long time.

She snaps a quick picture of the water, barely checking to make sure it isn’t blurry or glared before sending it off to her friends with a short text.

                _[8:55am Sun_The Mighty Nope] We made it!! Love you guys!!_

The text makes a soft swoop noise to indicate that it sent, so she jams the phone back into her pocket. Now out of the car, it’s clear the look-out point is less of a real viewpoint, and more a badly concrete covered top of a medium sized hill. Still, the sand looks soft and ocean is _right there_. She takes a deep breath of the damp salty air, exhaling into a contented sigh of pleasure. Out of the side of her gaze she sees Fjord do the same, a little of the tenseness in his shoulders dissipating with the gesture. It’s not entirely gone, and Jester will have to ask him about that later, but for now she knows exactly what to do.

“Woohoo!!!” She shrieks, throwing her arms up in the air into a triumphant gesture. “We made it!!!”

Fjord smiles wider, and the knot loosens even more. The warmth in her chest glows brighter and stronger, emanating from the holy symbol round her neck. Playfully she swats Fjord’s arm with her hand before beginning to scale the downside of the hill. He follows closely behind, almost sliding into her as the sand gives way beneath their weight.

Once the ground flattens they make a mad, silly dahs towards the water, both whooping and hollering now, like they’re both ten years old, not over twenty. It’s not quite the same as growing up together but experiencing this now is close enough in the moment A few people bear witness to them tripping over their feet, but Jester doesn’t care. Let them look, she thinks, it’s no weirder than the old dude with the harpoon after all. She quickly spots an open area for their stuff, and even though every waiting moment not spent in the water is agony, they spend a few pulling off their outer layers.

The sun feels so good she could cry, almost does when she feels the sand between her toes for the first time since arriving. For the third time that day Jester can feel herself holding back tears. Instead she waggles her eyebrows suggestively at Fjord who is in the middle of pulling his jeans off to reveal the swim trunks they’d bought a few days before. He nearly faceplants when one foot gets caught in one of the legs, his face flushed, but happy looking. A second later he’s laughing heartily as one of her horns gets caught in the sleeve of her blouse. He helps her untangle it, and then it’s her turn to blush when she realizes Fjord has already taken care of his own shirt.

She is stronger than Fjord, not even technically, just actually, but that doesn’t make a difference in how nice her friend looks in his swimwear, the one Jester helped him pick out. Her good eye for fashion, and an excellent sense for color matching coming in handy. He looks very handsome in that shade of dark blue, the sun highlighting the lovely shades of green and teal that make up his skin. She doesn’t stop herself from openly admiring him, especially when she catches him doing the same to her a moment later as she strips off her shorts. As she does she wiggles her ass just so to give him a little something more to admire before her tail whips around to playfully poke Fjord in the side.

He lets out a surprised noise, curling inwards a little as it tickles, and breaking his concentration. She knows how good she looks in her bikini. She doesn’t need the external validation, but if it feels good to see Fjord appreciating her body, well, she’s only mortal. He blushes again, deeper this time, and without his regular coverings, she can see it spread beyond his neck, over his shoulders, and down into other areas –

And she stops her thoughts there, unwilling to tread too far in that direction. The same uncomfortable feeling she gets every time Beau starts to insinuate something about her and Fjord’s relationship creeps into her gut. Only the thought that it doesn’t have to mean anything, not right now, stops it in its tracks. Those playful flirtations that make up their friendship had started to feel more real lately, but right now, in this moment, it didn’t need to be anything more than silly shenanigans with her bestest best friend in the whole wide world (sorry Traveler). Why ruin the day with feelings she knows aren't reciprocated? She shakes the thought off and grins roguishly before shouting, “Last one to the water is a _los_ -er!!” Darting off towards the water like a one of Nott’s bottle rockets.

“Hey!” Fjord starts, but she’s already got a few yards on him by the time he catches up.

She beats him easily, greeting him with a splashing kick of water. He sputters, but when she meets his gaze it mirrors the same breathless grin as her own. They spend the whole first hour running and shouting and splashing each other while the rest of the beach goers look on in bemusement. After a while Fjord wades out a little further to dip under the water for a bit, emerging every few yards to take a deep breath before disappearing under the waves again. Jester stops when the water is at waist height, closing her eyes and reveling in the warm kiss of the sun as it dries the sea spray in sticky salty patches on her skin. The Traveler is going to love this so much. She’s already mentally drafting journal entries when she feels eyes on her.

She hadn’t noticed Fjord emerge again, his hair dripping and pressed flat against his head, the shock of white in the middle bisected as his hair parts naturally down the middle. He stares straight at her, a deep well of fondness in his eyes that makes her heart stutter again in a way that she is less fond of. Her thoughts from earlier echo again. _Not right now_. Her thought must show on her face, because he tilts his head now like Frumpkin when Caleb does something especially weird like use bread as handwarmers, honestly what the fuck Caleb? A nervous giggle escapes through her smile now that she is thinking about bread mittens. His expression doesn’t change though, so she’s not sure that he actually noticed, and honestly Jester doesn’t know what to do with that, so she breaks eye contact, glancing back at their stuff to make sure it remains untouched.

The beach had grown busier around them over the course of the morning. Entrenched as they were in their own little bubble, neither had noticed the influx of couples and families looking to enjoy the beautiful day. Their little mound of clothing and her pack are no longer as isolated as they had been.

“You wanna sit for a bit?” Fjord asks, his uncertain sounding voice breaking her thoughts.

She nods, perhaps a little a too vigorously, turning the charm up another two notches, her grin so wide now it makes her cheeks ache. They pad through the sand back to their little pile. From her pack Jester pulls out a large beach towel, stripy and well worn, a gift from her mother ages and ages ago when she had finally turned old enough to walk to the boardwalk on her own. She lays it out for them to sit on, staking out a spot on one side, patting the other for Fjord to sit on as well.

He sits closer than she expects, and while the little cherry pit of anxiety grows, she finds it doesn’t feel bad. In fact, it feels really nice, his skin sun warmed and smelling faintly of sunscreen and the ocean and something distinctly Fjord, a slight earthy muskiness. She leans into it, resting her head on his shoulder lightly, as if she expects him to move away from it. When he doesn’t she quietly says, “You smell nice.”

He hums in response, but under her cheeks she feels how tense his shoulders are again. Sitting up again, she takes a closer look at his face. His eyes look distant, not completely gone, but not entirely there either. He’s guarded, a little twitchy. One thumb absentmindedly scrapes a groove in the sand, deeper and deeper, until she places a hand on his shoulder, anchoring herself to him. He jumps a little at the touch, but his eyes look more present.

He clears his throat, using the same hand from the sand to rub the back of his neck now, a nervous tick that had replaced the more harmful one of scraping at his tusks. “Sorry Jester. Mind got away from me for a second.”

“Fjord are you okay?” She asks, voice low and gentle. She leaves her hand on his shoulder, and the continued touch seems to ground him further.

He takes a deep, shuddering breath, running a hand through is hair now. “I guess I was just thinking about what you said earlier about,” another throat clear, then continuing, “About how you hadn’t really thought about it – What it would be like to actually be here again.” He trails off, eyes trained towards the shimmering horizon line.

She nods then says, “It’s weird right? Being here again. I’m so glad, but it feels different doesn’t it?”

He laughs under his breath. “Yeah, you could say that. It’s been two years, you know? Haven’t been back since – “ He swallows heavily, shutting his mouth into a thin, tightly pressed line around the growing tusks.

“Since he disappeared…” She finishes for him.

Fjord nods but doesn’t say anything more. He rubs at his eyes with a thumb and forefinger, taking another heavy swallow. They sit there in silence for a moment, the regular beach noises continuing around them. Jester lays her head against his shoulder again, and when he doesn’t protest or pull away, she reaches an arm around him into a sideways hug. He leans his own head against hers too, and when she feels a drop of water on her head she doesn’t say anything, just hugs him tighter. The next few moments pass like this, the two of them pressed up against each other until they’re breathing in sync.

Jester’s heart beats hard in her chest, so loud she’s certain Fjord must hear it. When he sniffs loudly, pulling away just slightly to wipe at his eyes, she’s surprised to feel not relief, but disappointment, as the places that no longer touched grew cold with the breeze. She twists her head uncomfortably to look at his face and finds herself nose to nose with him. Her heart squeezes, and without thinking she closes the gap between them with a kiss.

Fjord leans into it with no provocation, a gentle pressure against her lips, moving softly. She presses in harder, parting her lips slightly to allow him in, as, oh, that feels nice. That feels really nice, his tongue doing wonderful things with her own.

When they part both are breathing heavier, eyes locked. Fjord’s cheeks are flushed, and Jester feels her own do the same. The rims of his eyes are still a little red, but he’s smiling again.

“That was – “

“Nice – “

“Yeah – “

She leans in and kisses him again, this time softer, just a surface peck. He smiles into her mouth as she does. “I think I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time.”

He makes a soft noise of pleasure, contentment, happiness. “Me too.”

They stay by the water until the sun begins to set, swimming a little more, this time Jester wading out into the waves proper. After they both get their fill of the water, they go for a walk along the water’s edge, occasionally stopping to kiss each other again, mostly just talking. He holds her hand in his, dwarfing it with his calloused palms. She rubs a circle in the back of his with her thumb.

The night spent in the hotel passes all too quickly. They get one bed this time, and as Jester curls into Fjord’s arms, his face buried in her hair as they fall asleep, she wonders how she could have ever thought she wanted anything other than what she had right this moment.

The trip home is smooth, all the same stops made. The weather grows cooler as they get closer to Rexxentrum again, but they’re both pleasantly shocked to find that the city is slightly warmer than when they left it. As she parks the car in front of Fjord’s apartment complex, he reaches into the back to grab his duffel bag. It’s late enough that the street lights have turned on for the evening, light pooling out onto the sidewalks, glaring against the side of her car. She steps out as he’s turning to head inside, and grabs his arm, pulling him into one more kiss.

Quietly he mumbles into her lips, “I am so glad I answered that text.”

She nods, feeling her breath quicken just barely as she leans in to press one more kiss onto him. “Me too.” She leaves him soon after, stepping into her still running car as he starts the ascent up the stairs to his place.

Sitting in the car she closes her eyes, grasping her holy symbol and sending a prayer of gratitude to the Traveler. The symbol glows warm in her clasped hand.

As she drives off, she thinks, what a wonderful, wonderful world of possibilities.

And with that thought, she smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: That bit about the old man and the harpoon is something my little sister and I actually saw at the beach once when growing up. 
> 
> And with that, we're done!! I'd like to thank my co-writers, tumblr user's fuzzy-face, osroshallward, and criticaldemiplane, once again for helping me bring this little piece to life! Everything about this became instantly that much better with their help. <3 And a big thanks to tumblr user bboiseaux for organizing this incredible event!! I hope you enjoyed this piece, and I, and the rest of the writers, look forward to your thoughts!


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